It?s the turn of a coir pillow with jasmine fragrance to prop up slowing coir export growth. A coir pillow for the ailing is the latest product to catch the world?s attention at the natural fibre expo Coir Kerala. After selling 9 million units in Europe in 90 days, the special coir pillow, manufactured by a Kerala-based firm SITCO, started getting active trade inquiries from China this week. In Brussels, the pillow, called Funex, is not used for the ailing, but as a funeral pillow to keep coffins scented.
According to Zeng Lee Ting and Sang Me Yuan, trade representatives in the Chinese delegation at Coir Kerala 2013 at Alappuzha, the pillow has a lot of potential in the Chinese market. China, with a growing population of old people and respect for the elderly and the ailing, nurses a market appetite for Indian coir innovations .
?Indian coir mats with trendy designs could easily have a clientele in China,? says Indian-origin Chinese resident Pradeep Shetty , who runs an Indian merchandise unit in China. Shetty has even notched a dealership for coir products at his Indian-palace theme emporium at Evu in China, in tie up with Foam Mattings, a Kerala PSU.
The pace of market penetration would depend on how well the product design matches the changing aspirations of the Chinese populace, he told FE. One such instance is a coir doormat designed by an Indian coir firm that doubles as a wall-mat, mimicking a computer screen.
About 60 countries participated in what is pipped as the world’s biggest natural fibre fair, notching spot transactions of R200 crore in exports. The expo targets R2,500 crore in coir exports by 2016-2017.
In 2011-2012, coir exports stood at R1,084 crore, compared to R807 crore last year. ?We count on part-mechanisation to make coir products price-competitive soon,? says Adoor Prakash, Kerala?s coir minister.
What has apparently created a stir in the market is not the traditional products of coir mattings or the upcoming coir geotextiles, but the white-cover fragrant coir pillow. ?The Funex pillow has become a rage of sorts in Europe in the last 90 days, thanks to the Belgian partner FX-Diffusion,? says T Vijayaraj of SITCO, which launched the Funex pillow. With a 40-euro price tag, it has sold close to 10 million units in Brussels and other European cities.
The pillow product uses German knowhow, mixing together 70% coconut fibre, 30% natural rubber latex, 400 gm cotton and synthetic jasmine aroma. A micro-capsule is tucked into the layers to allow slow wafting out of the fragrance. For bed-ridden people, its use mops up bad odour and acts as a mood-elevator. According to a product description, the coir pillow has dimensions of 20 cm X 30 cm X 2 cm, but weighs only a fifth of a kilo.
The sobering philosophy of the new coir product brings to life the old saying of one man?s meat being the other’s poison. In Europe, while the Funex pillow was picking up brownie points for Kerala coir, it was being sold, all the while as a funeral pillow, that marks reverence to departed souls.
